Currently, there’s very little data in the UK on the jobs market for technical communicators. We’re hoping to redress this. We’ve initiated a survey that tracks hiring demand for Technical Authors across the UK.
We initially planned to run a survey of our newsletter subscribers, but we’ve come up with an alternative process that means we can also get an indication of the number of vacancies. We can gauge demand for these roles by examining the number of open vacancies on major UK job boards.
However, because different sites list overlapping sets of jobs and have their own definitions, the figures below should be viewed as indicators of demand, rather than a census.
Technical writing roles include job titles such as technical author, technical writer, technical data writer, bid writer, documentation specialist and similar titles.
All counts were captured on 19 September 2025.
Open vacancies by job board
Job board details below summarize counts and notable notes for each board.
* Totaljobs: 264 open technical writer vacancies.
* Notes: 53 of these are part‑time and 3 are temporary. Totaljobs is a large UK job board, so its figure reflects a wide range of technical‑writing roles including engineering and IT documentation.
* Jobsite: 249 technical writer jobs. UK-wide, aggregates permanent, contract and part‑time roles.
* CWJobs: 157 technical writer vacancies. Focuses on IT and technical roles.
* Glassdoor: 205 technical writer jobs in the UK. Includes roles posted by employers and recruitment agencies, including related titles.
* Reed: 87 technical writer jobs. General recruitment board; lower figure may reflect stricter filtering or fewer duplicates.
* Adzuna – Technical Writer: 151 technical writer jobs across the UK. Includes permanent and contract roles and location breakdowns.
* Adzuna – Technical Author: 1,252 technical author jobs. A separate Adzuna search lists 1,252 Technical author jobs in the UK; this category is broader and includes engineering documentation as well as software documentation.
* Interpretation: This category is broader and may overlap with technical‑writer postings because “technical author” can describe roles in engineering documentation as well as software documentation.
* ITJobsWatch (contract roles): ≈46 contract technical writer roles in the past six months. Notes that there were 23 Technical Writer jobs nationwide at the time of the snapshot; focuses on IT contracts rather than permanent positions.
Interpretation and trends
* Demand remains healthy but fragmented.
* Counts range from 87 to 264 for technical writer roles, depending on the board.
* Differences arise because boards cover different industry segments (IT vs. engineering), include or exclude recruitment‑agency postings, or filter out duplicates.
* Even the lowest figure (Reed’s 87 vacancies) indicates a sizeable market.
* Broader technical‑author roles are abundant.
* Adzuna lists 1,252 technical author roles, far more than technical writer roles. Many involve maintenance manuals, engineering documentation or bid/tender content, highlighting opportunities beyond software and IT.
* Contract opportunities are a smaller subset.
* ITJobsWatch notes 46 contract jobs requiring a technical writer in the past six months, suggesting that most vacancies on other boards are permanent.
* There are geographic concentrations.
* London and the South‑East are common locations for technical writer roles, with nationwide demand including Bristol, Manchester, the Midlands and Scotland.
These baseline figures allow monitoring of future changes. For instance, if Totaljobs’ count rises from 264 to 300 in a few months, it would signal growing demand.
Conversely, a decline across multiple boards could suggest a contraction in hiring.
Because each site’s count fluctuates with the number of employers posting jobs, tracking the same boards over time should offer a consistent trend indicator.
Summary
These figures indicate robust demand for professionals skilled in translating complex technical information into clear documentation across industries such as software, engineering, aerospace and construction.
We’re seeing new vacancies for technical authors in the UK and mainland Europe; you can see them on our Technical Author Vacancies page.
We’re observing growing demand in UK organisations recruiting technical communicators who can write API documentation. If you’re based in the EU, you can stay updated by registering as a recruitment candidate with Cherryleaf.
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